Academy of Research Education

Cohort Description: The purpose of the ARED Research Mentoring Certificate is to increase high-quality research mentoring.  The certificate involves six classes presented in Canvas course format, accompanied by (5) five live meetings held via Zoom.

Spring 2025

Research mentors play crucial roles in the development of emerging scholars. Elements of Effective Mentoring/Developing a Mentoring Philosophy is the first class in the Research Mentoring Certificate and provides a foundation for the remainder of the certificate classes.

Establishing expectations and maintaining effective communication are the cornerstones of the mentoring relationship. In this class we will cover strategies for successful communication between mentors and mentees, with a focus on the necessity for a mutual understanding of expectations, the use of various modes of communication, the ways in which power differentials affect communication, and the importance of mutual feedback between mentors and mentees. During the live class meeting, we will use case studies to explore potential communication issues and ways of addressing them.

It is important to understand when a mentee requires help, as well as when they are ready to independently carry out a task or project. The class covers frameworks for understanding research mentee development, the effective use of mentee onboarding processes, and the role of mistakes in a mentee’s development. During the live class meeting, we will use case studies to explore issues in understanding and fostering independence.

While academic reading and writing can be challenging even for the most experienced researchers, the highly specialized discourses of our disciplines can be particularly mystifying and intimidating for emerging researchers. This class covers principles and strategies for supporting mentees’ academic literacies, and encourages mentors to recognize and value language diversity. During the live class meeting, we will use case studies to explore issues in the development of mentees’ academic literacies.

Consideration of ethics should permeate all aspects of research and creative practice. Ethics in the context of research mentoring involves a wide variety of considerations, including treatment of colleagues, authorship, data collection and analysis, record keeping, confidentiality, and protection of human and animal subjects. Developing knowledge about ethics in research and the academic community will assist mentees for the future, whether they become career researchers or seek another occupation. During the live class meeting, we will use case studies to explore issues in research and mentoring ethics.